Do I Look Like My Idol?
by Doctor Meowzie
Summary: Sakuno turns up with short hair one day. So why that smug look on your face? Really, Ryoma, the world does not always revolve around you. Right, Kirihara? Oneshot.


**NOTE: **Edited author's notes below.

**A/N: **Oh yay, another one of those Let's-Piss-Ryoma-Off fics brought to you by me. I really wanted to write this since two weeks ago, but back then our PC was down. But now it's fixed, and I'm happy, and I'll dance, and I'll… yeah… er, so anyway! This fic may be random, pointless, whatever you describe it as, but I just submit this anyway. This is NOT RyoSaku, and you know the rule: Don't like, don't read.

**DISCLAIMER: **Konomi Takeshi pwns the manga and its characters, dearies. ♥

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**Do I Look Like My Idol?**  
© Doctor Meowzie

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Ryoma stared.

There, straight ahead.

Because standing there at the threshold of their first year high school classroom…

…was Ryuzaki Sakuno…

…with _short hair_.

…

Did his perception tell him right? Had his senses been awry? Did tennis damage his perfectly twenty-twenty vision? Did he not hit the occipital lobe of his forebrain? Was what he was seeing for real? As in, REALLY real?

That girl—Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter, Osakada's bashfully spineless friend, the Seigaku regulars' favorite little-sister figure, classmate of his who he knew to always oblige and say 'Yes' to whatever people had asked of her with the exception of his suggestion of cutting her hair shorter—actually CUT her hair shorter by nearly one foot, if he estimated it right.

Of course he'd be surprised! Why, how many instances had it been when he'd suddenly pop out of nowhere right where that Ryuzaki girl was practicing her tennis, only to make mindless comments on how horrible her playing is, cutting her overly lengthy hair being the most striking of them all? Striking, to the girl at least, for that was the only thing she wouldn't dare do, no matter how much she supposedly adored the tennis prince, according to what his sharp ears have perceived for numerous times.

Ryoma always knew her to be a submissive little girl, readily agreeing, always obliging—thus he had somewhat labeled her as 'spineless'. But whenever he'd tell her that she better shorten her prized brown hair in order to play tennis more efficiently, she would strongly disagree to his words and protect the state of her braided waist-length hair with all her might, with all her mind, with all her heart and with all her soul. Okay, he must be exaggerating, but that's his opinion basing from her actions, so who cares. At least she wasn't at all spineless as he thought.

But now there she is, walking into their classroom towards her seat in all her short-brown-hair glory.

Her friends and some of their classmates flocked to her like birds, throwing her comments about being surprised at her new look, looking more mature with straight auburn hair only two inches below her shoulders, seemingly adorable with formerly wavy but now perfectly straight bangs parted at the side, etc. etc…

It just struck him that what they were saying was true; she DID look mature AND adorable all the same, and had she turned her back to his direction, he might have not recognized her to be Ryuzaki Sakuno at all, being used to her long twin braids and all.

Ryuzaki didn't seem to notice that he was staring at her, which was good.

The fact that she had cut her hair—like what Ryoma had long told her to do—brought a smug smirk on his handsome face.

She really was a good girl.

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"You know, nyah, ochibi's been like that since he stepped in the courts today."

Momoshiro, having drank half a jug of water, placed the container down beside him on the bench and shot a questioning look at his red-haired senpai.

"Echizen… Been like what?"

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed nyah!" Eiji exclaimed at his partner in crime. "You know—"

"Ah, you mean him looking twice as smug as usual?"

"Uh-huh!"

Momo crossed his arms thoughtfully and nodded his head. "Oh yeah, he HAD been quite powered up as well—look at Mamushi," he looked ahead of him to see his eternal rival sweat buckets while playing a match against the smugger-than-usual Echizen boy, "poor Mamushi, getting owned just because Echizen's been reciting 'Mada mada dane' all too proudly… poor, poor Mamushi…" he shook his head.

"Sou! But Ochibi looks like he's in a good mood nyah; I wonder what made him so?"

Silence reigned between the two rascals of the team as they each looked up thoughtfully in search for an answer, as if heaven might inspire them and shine sunlight on them to switch their mental light bulbs on.

That was when they heard someone speak up from behind.

"Konnichiwa, Inui-senpai! Fuji-senpai!"

They both turned to see their fifteen-year-old—but still small and therefore adorable—kohai greeting their team data man (who was scribbling satisfyingly on his trusty notebook, as per usual) and their team tensai (who stood beside Inui with that gentle smile of his, as per usual). All persons were standing right outside the tennis courts.

Upon seeing their little girl, they nearly screamed in surprise.

(But thankfully they didn't, otherwise their buchou would reprimand them for the racket and order them to dash a hundred laps around the court.)

Eiji gaped. "Sakuno-chan… She's—she's—"

Momo tried to lower his voice from booming level. "Her—Her—"

"Her hair…"

"…is short."

Silence.

NO. Hell did NOT freeze over. Mars was NOT Pluto.

But dear, they really did scream.

"**WTF???????????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**

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"Huh?"

Sakuno looked around, eyes wide as she surveyed her surroundings.

"What's the matter, Sakuno-chan?" her Fuji-senpai asked her kindly.

"Ah… I thought I heard someone screaming…" she shook her head to clear her senses, her now short hair moving along in a single swift motion.

"Well, someone _did_ scream." Inui paused. "Two, actually."

Sakuno blinked. "Eh?"

"Ahie. So it is." Fuji chuckled, seeing Eiji and Momoshiro run their first lap around the court, both seemingly avoiding the glare of their buchou.

"Ryuzaki?"

…

"Hai, Inui-senpai?"

"I didn't know you listen to Paramore too."

She blushed.

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As Ryoma's foot stepped out of Seishun territory, he immediately spotted someone leaning against the stone walls where a gold sign bore the name of the school. His brows shot up when he recognized the girl as none other than Ryuzaki Sakuno.

Oh. Yeah. Right. He almost forgot that she had a new look already.

Just thinking about that new look of hers almost made him smirk haughtily, but he tried to suppress it as he shrugged and approached her.

"Hey."

Said girl whipped her head to his direction and immediately stood straight to greet him. "H-Hello, Ryoma-kun!" She bowed to him.

He nodded his head to her, and her cute look made him want to smirk even more, which he again tried to suppress without fail.

The fact that she was standing here meant that she must have been waiting for someone, he thought.

But who else would she wait for but him?

"Come on, I'll walk you home."

"E-Eh?" she blinked, blushing.

He sighed. As expected of her. "You heard me, Ryuzaki."

"But Ryoma-kun… I-I'm waiting for someone…"

"Oh."

…

**WHAT?!** He inwardly yelled.

He was already there, standing in front of her, gracing her with his most majestic presence, and she still said she was waiting for someone?

Someone ELSE?!

"Ryuzaki-sensei is busy and might be off two hours later."

"Uhm… no, she told me not to wait for her and go home ahead…"

"Senpai-tachi all went home early to study for their exams."

"Ah… hai, Fuji-senpai told me that…"

"Osakada has dashed towards home right after last subject ended."

"Hai, she told me they'll be out of town for the weekend."

His face darkened.

Who ELSE would she wait for anyway?

…

As he thought of more probabilities that might answer the question storming his brain, he heard a foreign voice speak up.

"Yo, Sakuno-chan!"

"Ah! Kirihara-san!" Sakuno bowed in greeting.

Ryoma stared.

"Ah… did I make you wait for too long? Gomen! But at least I tried not to fall asleep during the bus ride!" Kirihara Akaya exclaimed, beaming affectionately at Sakuno. He was clad in his yellow tennis jersey, and it did not surprise Ryoma that they were now of the same height, being high school students. He wasn't literally an Ochibi anymore, but this dude irked him with his mere presence… and more so did his warm gestures towards Sakuno vex him.

"That's good, Kirihara-san! And no, I've been here for only ten minutes," she smiled whilst he scratched the back of his head embarrassedly.

Ryoma glared.

The Rikkai ace was ignoring him, darn it.

"And I see you cut your hair! Like Hayley's too! Aha, I see I have influenced you, Saku-chan! That music video I sent you really inspired you, eh?"

"E-Eto… do I look like my idol?"

Akaya grinned widely. "Absolutely!!!"

The tennis prince's eyebrow almost twitched. But more visible was the narrowing of his golden orbs as Sakuno blushed at Akaya's approval of her new look.

And here Ryoma thought that Sakuno cut her hair to please _him_… GRRR.

"Come on, Saku-chan! Let's get some waffles downtown! My treat, since I made a lady wait. And oh, here's the CD I promised to lend you."

"Ah, arigatou, Kirihara-san."

"Aw, just 'Akaya' will be better."

"Hai, Akaya-san…"

Then Sakuno bowed to Ryoma politely, muttered a 'See you, Ryoma-kun' with a faint blush painting her pale cheeks and walked away from him along with the Rikkai Dai regular. The two chatted animatedly with each other as they walked away, somewhat coincidentally towards the direction of the sunset.

As Ryoma shot the couple a dark look, his sharp vision caught Kirihara slightly turning his head and sticking his tongue out at him.

Ryoma's expression got darker and darker by the second as he briskly walked all the way home, immediately proceeding to their yard, where his father was lazily lying on his back with a porn material slapped on his face. Without changing from his tennis jerseys, he whipped his racquet out and exclaimed:

"Oyaji, play a match with me. NOW."

Needless to say, Nanjiroh became the victim of his son's irritation.

**END.**

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**A/N (EDITED ON 08.23.07):**

Sniff. Thanks SO much for the reviews, minna-san! I owe your reviews almost all of my life! You see, I wrote this fic back before the week of our midterm exams. That was also the time I received your reviews; and I was uber happy and inspired I actually studied all four modules of our Psychology book to the best of my abilities. And then TENEN! My test results had been well! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I GIVE YOU ALL VIRTUAL POCKY! YAY FOR REVIEWERS! I'll try to reply to each one of you when I have the time.

Actually, I'm all the more inspired now that I have entered the Hellsing and Vampire Knight fandom. Now Kaname x Yuki is my OTP and I can die happily. But I can't die just yet, can I? I have fics to update! Nyah! And I'm happy many also agreed with me about Pein x Sakura. Huzzah for crack!

Wow, you guys DO love and listen to Paramore too! Let's all unite then shall we? LOL 8D

Once again, thanks, thanks and a million more thanks!!! Much love and peace!

-Meowzie


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